Black Canary vs the Music Meister
by nhrynchuk
Summary: Dinah and the Black Canary band go to Star City to take part in a Battle of the Bands. While there, Dinah meets Star Cities own vigilante Green Arrow, and the band takes on the mysterious Music Meister. I do not own Black Canary, Green Arrow, or Music Meister.
1. Battle of the Bandmates?

Battle of the Bands!  
Coming to Star City! Enjoy the musical talent's of today's best bands!  
For examples, enjoy the sonic cries of Black Canary, and the hypnotizing melodies of out only solo act, the Music Meister!  
Event being hosted and paid for by the Moira Queen Foundation.

Dinah stared at the flier, before sighing. A new city. The same tour. Dinah looked out the bus as Heathcliff drove them into Star City. God she hated it here. The rain, to start. The nearly unrelenting downpour in this city was nearly as bad as how it seemed like Gotham was always at night. At least it was only in Gotham. Burnside at least had daytime there. And Barbara. She missed her friend, but that fiery red head was a pain in the ass sometimes. She loved her though. She smiled at the thought of her friend a bit. She'd finally gotten her whole situation fixed, with her 'impersonator'. That was a relief. She was pretty much on the edge of loosing her head there. Or at least she thought she was. Somewhat literally, it was her mind. But that was over. She closed her eyes, sticking her head out the vans window, letting the wind blow her hair back. From running a dojo, to being a member of some secret ops team, to a super hero. Dinah never expected herself to be here of all places. A rock band? As the lead singer no doubt. But it was a welcomed change. And not to sound egotistical, but she liked the name. 'Black Canary'. It was dumb, having the band named after her superhero alter-ego. But it's not like she wore a mask. So what was the point in trying to keep a secret identity?

"Dinah? You okay?" Lord Byron asked. She had probably been standing there talking to her for the past few minutes, while she zoned out. She nodded in response, smiling at Byron

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just not exactly excited about being... here." she said, waving her hand into the air. "Star City isn't exactly one of the nicer cities. Be nice if it was in a city that doesn't seem to always rain."

Byron shrugged lightly. Dinah looked over to Paloma, who had on her headphones, looking at a book. Lately, the two hadn't exactly seen eye-to-eye. Paloma didn't agree with the training. But she didn't know how, but Paloma was amazing with a sidearm. She had the best aim out of the whole band. She didn't understand. And since their spat, Paloma had stayed as far away from Dinah as she could. Ditto stayed quiet, keeping to herself, her fingers lightly plucking at the strings of her guitar. The kid never gave them much to go off of, but enough. Whatever she was, she was talented. That guitar trick in the shop had been something else. And then it was ruined by her husband, Kurt popping up after attacking her and Ditto? She felt like there was too much going on for them all.

The van pulled up to the collesium, where the event was being held. Usually this was the home of the Star City Tigers. But due to it being the off-season, and the infamous, Oliver Queen owning the building, arrangements were easily made and switched around. From what she'd heard of the guy, she didn't much care for him. He was just another playboy billionaire, trying to spend all his 'hard' earned money in any new way that he could. She did feel bad for him about his mother passing away. That would be hard on anybody. The van pulled to a slow stop, Heathcliff turning around, pushing his glasses back up on his nose

"Alright ladies and... Ditto?" he asked, uncertainly, not completely positive on how to classify Ditto. which went for about everyone on the bus. "While all of you register us in, please allow me the pleasure of sleeping. I think I took over about... Ten mile ago? so I'll be crashing here." he said, standing up and flopping onto the couch, releasing a content sigh.

"Can't argue with him there." Byron said, smiling and patting Heathcliff's head, before grabbing his hood and tugging it over the mans head, a muffled 'Unnecessary' heard from underneath it.

Byron passed Paloma, tapping her knee. The girl looked up, grabbing her laptop and tugging it under her arm. Ditto was next to Dinah without a sound, other than the light strumming of her guitar. Dinah stood up and smiled down at Ditto, lightly placing her hand on Ditto's head. Ditto just looked up at her, her fingers stopping for a moment, before looking back at her guitar, continuing the strumming.

"Let's go." Dinah said, walking with her band out of the van, heading to the collesium. Dinah looked over the crowds, her eyes scanning the people. Other bands, some people there to cheer on them as well. But that wasn't the real reason. With everything going on recently, she needed to be on her toes at all times. She paused, stopping mid-step. Her eyes stopped on a man across the lot. Red hair, a small tooth gap, and weird...weird glasses. He was just strutting around, walking as if he owned everything. Moron.

They walked through the gates onto the field. Bands were lined up, members talking with others. It was actually nice. Seeing as in a few days, all these bands would be going against one another for a grand prize total of some amount of money she couldn't remember. $20,000? Sounded right. She was only doing this because they were invited. Only a few select bands were invited. They stood in line for about half an hour, before they reached the table where they had to sign up. And Mr. Moneybags was right there. Of course. His concert, he'd be there. He actually was pretty handsome.

"Ladies. It's a pleasure to meet you. Black Canary, I assume." he said, standing and extending a hand. Dinah took it, giving it a slight shake "Nice grip Ms. Drake." he said, smirking slightly at her. "I'm Oliver Queen, as I'm sure you know." He moved around shaking the hands of Lord Byron, as well as Paloma. He held his hand out to her, and she just looked at him. After a few seconds of the two staring at one another he awkwardly put his hand away, causing Dianh to chuckle a bit

"Yeah, we're here for the signup." she said, watching as he took a seat right back where he'd been. He slid over the clipboard for her, and she leaned down, writing her name down, moving over so the others could as well.

"Well, in all honesty, it's great to have a butt kicking band in our show. Both on, and off of the stage. Not many... okay, anyone else here, has worked alongside the Justice League." he said, shrugging lightly. "We figured you gu- I apologize. Girls, would bring an extra spark to our show that we needed."

She opened her mouth to reply, before pausing. There was a small tingle in the back of her head, blinking. Out of nowhere, people started yelling across the field. She turned her head to see groups of band members attacking one another. Not the type of 'Battle of the Bands' she'd been expecting. More up her alley though. Possibly just said something and pressed a bad button.

"Stay here. You all have been training but whatever this is it's... Yeah..." she said, rushing forward.

She ran over to the crowd, pulling one person off the group watching the first aiming for her face at the last second. Her hand shot up, catching the guy's fist, spinning around and grabbing his arm, flipping him over her shoulder. He hit the ground hard, letting out a groan, slowly passing out. Some reason she was getting pissed, angry. She turned to face the crowd. "Hshhhhhhh..." she started, pulling in a deep breath, about to let loose, when suddenly a smoke cloud popped up, and she began to cough uncontrollably, holding her throat. Gas? Who? And then she looked up to see him. The Green Arrow. She'd only heard about the guy from the Justice League. Arrogant, big-headed, and green. But an amazing shot with almost any projectile. Almost like Green Lantern, only a bow instead of a ring. He wasn't using his arrows though. Just his bow.

Arrow swung his bow around, cracking it on one guys head who had leapt at him. Dinah looked around and saw some girl with a green and black mohawk moving towards her. Dinah pulled her fist back and the girl yelped, putting her hands up, pleading not to be hit. She ran past Dinah and then looked to see someone else leaping at her, punching them in the face. Arrow smacked two men's heads together, as one man ran up at him from behind. She leapt over, shooting out her leg and knocking out the guy.

"Watch your back. These people are furious." she said, looking at the growing group surrounding them. "Get behind me, and cover your ears."

"Are you going to do that 'sonic cry' of yours?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at her.

"Yes, now shut up and cover your ears." She said, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, before letting out a sonic cry, the sound waves knocking the people backwards onto one another. After a few moments her cry ended, breathing heavily, looking at the pile of people knocked out.

"Jeez. That came out of nowhere. Here I was expecting a nice calm night." Arrow said, shaking his head a bit. He looked over his shoulder at Canary. "You okay there? Didn't mean to hit you as well Prettybird." he said, smiling a bit.

"Fine. Just be careful where you point those things." She said, smirking before turning to head back to her band "Oh, and by the way Robin Hood?" she said, looking at him once again "Call me Prettybird again, and I'll scream so loud, you'll never even hear your own heart beating." she said, turning away and heading to the band. She heard the bowstring fire off an arrow, pulling him up to the collesium roof.

"Sorry about that. You need just a bit more training." she said, smiling at them.

"Right. Because we need more training and less band practice." Paloma said, turning and huffing away. Ditto looked between Dinah and Paloma. Dinah sighed, watching her walk off

"She's right. We need less training. We need to practice more..." she said, looking around. Rich-kid Queen takes off when the action starts. Of course. "Let's head back to the...van..." she said, looking back down at the sign-in sheet. 'Music Meister'? When did someone have time to sign up with that commotion? She shook her head. "Let's head out. I have a friend in the area. We can practice at their place though." she said, smiling at Byron, her arm moving around her shoulders, placing her other hand on Ditto's shoulder.


	2. Training Session

"Look Cole, I just need the place for a week or so. We're competeing in a battle of the bands here in Star City." Dinah said, pacing lightly as she held her phone to her head.

"Look, I know we're old Team 7 buddies, but I'm dealing with a lot of aliens. I highly doubt that your band will-"

"Cole. They know. I don't wear a mask. Everyone in the world knows who I am. I'm not hiding it at all."

"Yeah, for the record, no mask was a bad idea." He said, shrugging "Hey, one sec. You may wanna cover your ears." he said, setting down his phone, turning the corner, firing off his dual pistols, watching as the bullet passed through the alien's head. "Alright, I'm back."

"Cole, I know where you keep the spare key. You've let me crash there before. I need this for my band. One of the girls already hates me. This will possibly help me out."

"Wait a second, Dinah Drake-Lance, is worried about what someone is thinking of her? Guess some things change." he said with a chuckle, standing up and walking from his spot. "Fine, take the place. Just make sure it's cleaned up afterword. If I come back and there's a mess, I'll put a bullet through the one that hates you. Just cause."

"You're a lifesaver Cole. And please don't... I ran into Kurt recently. So just..." she sighed a bit, rubbing her forehead "Let's just avoid it." she said. "Seriously though, thank you. I'll pay you back, I promise."

"You can pay me back by not destroying my eardrums, please and thank you." he said, chuckling "Later birdy. I gotta go shoot some aliens."

"Bye Grifter." She said, smiling a bit before hanging up. "Heathcliff, no shoes on the table or couch, I told you that." she said, smacking them with her hand. "I see it again and you'll have another half hour hand to hand combat training session. With me personally." His feet left the table quickly, clearing his throat.

So what if she hadn't told Cole they'd already let themselves in? She knew he was going to say yes. Even if he'd said no, she'd have gotten the place all cleaned up before he got back. If it was that he'd returned after their contest. If it had been before, then they'd be a little less lucky. And hope she'd get him down before he shot anyone. She moved over to the kitchen counter and sat down, looking at Lord Byron.

"Well, everything's set up. Sweet of your old pal to let us actually crash here. You didn't already tell him you let us in though, did you?" Byron ashked, opening the fridge to pull out a bottled water. "Better here than on the bus. We can't give people a little look at what we've got before the competition starts."

"Yeah, well, Cole's a nice guy. Well... sometimes." Dinah responded, shrugging a bit "Paloma all set up and ready? We've gotta be ready for this. Even if we don't win, I don't want to be one of those first round losers. I want to make it past at least that."

"We're the pro's in the group D, we'll get through it no sweat."

"Only if nothing happens. If this goes like most of our other shows, trouble will cause us to have to stop, and we'll need to stop playing in order to do something about it. As usual." she said, sighing a bit. She loved fighting (to an extent) but she hated having to stop playing just so that she could fight whoever screwed up the show. She was costing the band money from their gigs. Definitely something none of them enjoyed.

"Well, maybe here you can take a break. That Green Arrow guy seemed to be watching the arena. He was there in no time." Paloma said, walking in as her fingers tapped on her laptop. "All the systems are ready. We can do a sound check, but Ditto's doing a pretty good job of it already. She's dong her non-stop guitar playing. Love that little mute."

"Let's get going. We ready ladies?" She said, standing up and nodding towards the other room. Byron picked up her drum sticks, following after her "Alright, we'll start with the usual warm ups, then hit some of our more popular songs. I think 'Scream Queen' is our biggest hit?"

"Well I was thinking about a new song title after last night." Byron said, twirling her drumstick in her fingers, a light smirk on her face "How about 'Prettybird'?"

Dinah stopped in her tracks, looking at Byron. She heard what that Arrow guy had called her. She hated the name, but...she kinda liked the sound of it. Maybe, just maybe if she was desperate enough, she'd have someone write up some lyrics for it. They didn't exactly do 'love songs' though.

"How about we just practice the songs we already know?" she responded, smirking lightly over her shoulder at Byron, before giving a slight shake of her head "1, 2, 3, 4!"

Byron hit the drums, Ditto on the fret, and Paloma on bass. Heathcliffe, continuously checking to make sure the sound systems didn't bust. The ones they kept for practice weren't as good as the ones that they ever had on stage, but they hadn't broken down in the past few weeks. Or possibly days. It was a bit difficult keeping track with how often they practiced on the road. and how often Dinah's voice got away from her. That happened more than she'd ever care to admit.

After n hour or two of practice, it was break time. They needed food and Dinah needed to get herself some water. She tried not to drink too much unless she absolutely had to when on the stage. It was a trick she'd heard previously to make her voice stronger. She picked up a water bottle from the kitchen counter and opened the lid up, taking a sip.

"We'll be back in a bit D. We'll grab you some chinese." Heathcliffe said, waving as Paloma, Byron, and Ditto followed after him. The three left and she took another drink from her water before hearing the door reopen "Did you forget the keys again He-" she was cut off as she turned around, seeing Kurt there once again. "What do you want Kurt?" she asked, looking away from her ex-husband. Yes, she knew he'd been back for a while, but seeing him, never helped. It still hurt. It was the face of the man she once loved, once was married to. And he didn't remember a single thing.

"Dinah, I'm here to talk to you. There's something off about this competition you've entered. There's a few of these bands where in recent competitions, they've been involved in fights. Two or three of them got accused of murder. They had no recollection of their actions though. Their trying to remake their bands with new members, and not exactly succeeding. We don't know what gets into these people though. None of them have prior history with violence to this level. Bar fights are one thing. But all out brawls out of nowhere? It's unethical, even for rock bands."

"Thanks, I'll keep an eye out Kurt. Anything else?" she asked, keeping her back to him.

"No... I just-"

"Sorry, am I interrupting something important?" asked Oliver Queen from the doorway, looking between the two. "Dinah looked at him and sighed, shaking her head "Cause if I am, I can definitely come back another time." he said, shrugging

"It's fine. My friend was just leaving." She said, looking towards Kurt. He looked at the ground before turning and leaving the room, giving a quick goodbye. "Nowe, how did you find us, and what do you need Mr. Queen? Sorry if I'm not that polite but it's been an interesting past two days so far."

"Well, for one, with all that commotion at the arena, you never got a chance to sign up." he said, extending the clipboard out to her "I don't usually make house calls, but I met you girls before the fighting started, so I wanted to at least get you all on the list. And as for finding you, I passed by earlier. Saw the van. Made a mental note of it."

"Oh... well, thank you." she said, looking at the board and quickly writing down the band name, before looking back at him. "You know, you disappeared pretty fast. And Green Arrow, he showed up almost instantely." she mentiooned, raising an eyebrow.

Queen chuckled and smiled at her "I had some contact with the Green Arrow recently. He's going to be somewhat of a body guard for me and the show. As soon as the fight broke out, he got me out and leapt in to help as much as he could. If I heard correctly, you did pretty well yourself."

"If anything, I taught Arrow a few tricks if he can learn by watching. But I don't think he was watching my fighting moves." She said, shrugging a bit "See you at the arena tomorrow night?" she asked, her arms crossing over her chest

"Tomorrow night. you're going to love it. You're first opponent is your bands best friend. Bo Maeve. Already had it decided, just needed you to sign for it to be fficial. Thanks though." he said, turning as he headed towards the black sports car parked on the street. 


End file.
